Raffaele Sollecito asked 'to frame Amanda Knox' and feared she would do the same

Raffaele Sollecito asked 'to frame Amanda Knox' and feared she would do the same

AMANDA Knox’s former boyfriend has claimed Italian police tried to bribe him into framing her for the murder of Meredith Kercher.

Published: 11:42, Sat, September 14, 2013

Amanda Knox in Court

She had been making crazy statements and everything was just wrong

Raffaele Sollecito

Raffaele Sollecito told how he feared police would try and broker a similar deal with Knox to pin the killing of the British student on him.

The 29-year-old said he was approached by a prison guard, fellow inmates and even members of his own family.

But the Italian said he refused to implicate Knox as the pair awaited trial for the murder of the 21-year-old in Perugia, Italy.

Raffaele Sollecito says he doesn't regret meeting Knox

He claims that detectives told him he would be released if he turned on Knox, suggesting he should pretend he was sleeping or couldn’t remember anything, allowing the prosecution to pin the blame on her.

The pair were convicted of Meredith’s murder in 2009 before being cleared on appeal two years later.

But the acquittals were thrown out and Knox and Sollecito face a new trial, set to begin this month.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror he said: “They did not persuade me. It was the most sneaky situation. I couldn’t invent anything.'

“I knew her for a short time, a week, and in reality I did not really know this woman.

“I was scared because she was out of control at the police station.

“She had been making crazy statements and everything was just wrong.”

“I thought she could make a deal to blame me. I was scared of that.”

Sollecito was sentenced to 25 years and Knox to 26.

He claims the first time he was approached was when he was in solitary confinement when his father tried to speak to the proseuction and was told to pass on the message his son should keep his distance from Knox.

Meredith Kercher was murdered in 2007

He was also urged by other family members to take the deal and free himself, but he refused to be persuaded and wrote a letter vowing to stand by Knox.

Sollecito claims police tried to get him to turn against Knox by telling him if he didn’t distance himself from the her, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

He said hid his family was also made aware of this.

His father was allegedly approached by a Perugia lawyer offering a similar deal.

Sollecito claimed police then began trying to get him to turn against Knox and that, unless he distanced himself from the American, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

His father was allegedly approached by a Perugia lawyer offering a similar deal.

Prosecutors claimed Kercher had her throat slashed when a drug-fuelled sex game went wrong.

The Leeds University exchange student’s grieving family were devastated when Knox and Sollecito were freed on appeal but in March welcomed the news that Knox and Sollecito would face retrial.

The pair were accused along with a third man of murdering Kercher when she refused to participate in the sex game.

Knox initially claimed to have witnessed the murder and named a local bar owner as the killer.

The 21-year-old was killed in Perugia, Italy

She later withdrew the statement, insisting it had been made under duress, and said she had been at Sollecito’s student apartment throughout the night – which he confirmed.

The pair met at a classical music concert and became lovers within hours – just one week before the murder.

Sollecito said the pair 'were like teenagers in a fantasy romance' before the murder of the student.

Despite being photographed when they were reuntied in New York earlier this year he insists there is no romance and the pair are just friends.

When asked if he wishes he had never met Knox, he said: “No, I don’t think like that. I don’t blame her, it is not her fault this nightmare. It is others.”

He told how he fears police will try to seek revenge by planting drugs in his car.

He slammed the way police handled the case, saying that officers were “incompetent' and 'fools”.

Despite his own grievances, he insists he hasn't forgotten the pain of Meredith's family, saying he “can't imagine their suffering”.

But he urged them to read the case documents and ask questions about what really happened instead of sticking by the 'theory' of what happened.

'If you accept only the prosecution case you will never find what is right and what really happened,' he added.